SUV and a mask led to Lehigh Valley 'bicycling bandit' suspect

Records show armed robber covered his face only in Emmaus, leading detectives to look for him there.

The Whitehall Sunoco station on MacArthur Road is one of six businesses… (Frank Warner, The Morning…)

December 01, 2012|By Frank Warner, Of The Morning Call

In the end, the Lehigh Valley's "bicycling bandit" suspect was identified not by his bike, but by his motor vehicle.

And according to the investigators who arrested him Friday, Steven S. Felton, 31, of Emmaus may have revealed his home town simply by wearing a Halloween mask at one of the six armed robberies he is charged with.

Felton was arraigned by District Judge Michael J. Pochron on six counts of robbery and sent to Lehigh County Prison under $300,000 bail.

Early in the recent string of robberies in Lehigh and Northampton counties, police more than once found surveillance video of a robber running or bicycling to a dark blue 2003 GMC Envoy, a sport utility vehicle.

The SUV narrowed the police hunt, according to the arrest affidavit filed at Felton's arraignment.

An equally significant clue was the pig-like Halloween mask the robber wore at the 8 p.m. Oct. 16 robbery of the Liberty Bell Beverage distributorship at 1438 Chestnut St. in Emmaus, the affidavit makes clear.

The Emmaus robbery was the only one in which the thin, short-bearded bandit showed up in a mask.

"It was believed that the actor wore a mask there only because he may have been recognized at that location," says the affidavit, prepared by Whitehall Township Detective Michael Marks. Police guessed the robber was from Emmaus.

Acting on that hunch, investigators searched databases for blue GMC Envoys in the Emmaus area. One happened to be registered to Felton's wife, Josephine, of 6171/2 Walnut St., Emmaus, which also is Felton's legal address, the affidavit says.

Josephine Felton on Oct. 28 told Emmaus police that Steven took the SUV for several days without letting her know where he was, the affidavit says.

Police and Lehigh County detectives concluded that the SUV was Felton's principal crime vehicle, and he only occasionally took along the bicycle, which he'd ride a few blocks to and from his targeted businesses, the affidavit says.

Detectives determined that, on at least one day that Felton had the SUV, he took it to Philadelphia, the affidavit says. But what they needed was evidence that he was in Whitehall, Allentown, Coopersburg and Emmaus, as they suspected, for robberies there.

Investigators went to the Cigar International warehouse in Bethlehem, where Josephine Felton works, and examined her SUV in the parking lot. According to the affidavit, they found the vehicle had the same uniquely placed cellular antenna and same dented back left bumper they saw in surveillance video.

On Thursday, investigators showed a photo lineup to Sajjad "Sam" Haiter, owner of the Whitehall Sunoco, and he pointed to Steven Felton as the possible Nov. 13 robber of his 2304 MacArthur Road store.

On Friday, the clerks who faced the bandit's black pistol Oct. 11 at the Allentown Hess gas station and Nov. 20 at the Coopersburg Hess station positively identified Felton as the robber, the affidavit says. Felton's height, 5 feet, 6 inches, also is in line with witness reports, the affidavit says.

In the affidavit, Detective Marks said investigators now have enough evidence to show Felton robbed Liberty Bell Beverage in Emmaus, the Whitehall Sunoco station, the Allentown Hess station, the Coopersburg Hess station, the Top Star Mobil station in Whitehall and Jordan Park Beverage in Whitehall.

All the robberies happened in October and November.

The Friday charges are the result of the investigative work of Whitehall, Allentown, Coopersburg and Emmaus police, and Lehigh County detectives. Meanwhile, Northampton County police are looking into several similar robberies, including at least two by a bicyclist.

Felton may be under investigation in at least one other county, according to the Friday affidavit.

On Thursday, police spotted Felton leaving his Emmaus home at 8 p.m. in his wife's blue GMC Envoy, the affidavit says. Detectives followed him into Montgomery County, where they say they lost track of him.

An hour later, the BP gas station on Sumneytown Pike in Lansdale was robbed. According to the affidavit, the robber fit Felton's description.